Analysis of May

John Shaw Neilson 1872 (Penola, South Australia) – 1942 (Melbourne, Victoria)



Shyly the silver-hatted mushrooms make
    Soft entrance through,
And undelivered lovers, half awake,
    Hear noises in the dew

Yellow in all the earth and in the skies,
    The world would seem
Faint as a widow mourning with soft eyes
    And falling into dream.

Up the long hill I see the slow plough leave
    Furrows of brown;
Dim is the day and beautiful: I grieve
    To see the sun go down.

But there are suns a many for mine eyes
    Day after day:
Delightsome in grave greenery they rise,
    Red oranges in May.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF CGCG
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 100101101 1101 001010101 110001 1001010001 0111 1101010111 010011 1011110111 111 1101010011 110111 1111010111 1101 10110011 110001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 531
Words 94
Sentences 4
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 97
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

28 sec read
34

John Shaw Neilson

John Shaw Neilson was an Australian poet. Slightly built, for most of his life he worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with the Country Roads Board in Melbourne. he died when he was 70 years old. more…

All John Shaw Neilson poems | John Shaw Neilson Books

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